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Summary of the impact

Dr Julia Sallabank's research into Guernsey's little-studied indigenous
language, Guernesiais, has
greatly informed language planning and policy on the island, particularly
with regard to teaching
methods and raising awareness of the language among the population.
Moreover, her
documentation of Guernesiais, specifically the recording of audio samples,
constitutes a significant
contribution to the preservation of Guernsey's identity and cultural
heritage. Sallabank's broader
expertise on the revitalisation of endangered languages has also been
solicited by language
officials elsewhere, notably Jersey, the Isle of Man and New Caledonia,
and resulted in her
participation in UNESCO's Panel of Experts on language diversity.

Underpinning research

Dr Julia Sallabank is Senior Lecturer in Language Support and
Revitalisation at SOAS' Department
of Linguistics, where she has worked since 2007. She completed her PhD in
Linguistics at the
University of Lancaster in 2006, focusing on identity and language
maintenance in Guernsey
Norman French, while continuing to work as Commissioning Editor for
Applied Linguistics books
and journal at Oxford University Press. Her research centres on policy and
planning for
endangered languages and is directly related to improving the outcomes of
language revitalisation
programmes.

Since 2000, Sallabank has been researching the endangered indigenous
language of Guernsey,
Guernesiais. Sallabank works closely with the island's endangered language
community and is
currently working on a British Academy-funded project into learning
Guernesiais with a local
collaborator, having previously held an Endangered Languages Documentation
Programme grant
to document Guernesiais. A Norman language strongly influenced by Norse
and English at
different points in its history, Guernesiais has just 6-7 proficient
speakers under age 60; under 2%
of Guernsey's population speaks Guernesiais fluently (2001 census).
Guernesiais does not have
official recognition or status, nor does it have an official name, often
being referred to as a dialect.
It is also rarely heard or written in the media. Sallabank's work is thus
concerned with how the
language might be revitalised, protected and preserved.

Sallabank has examined approaches to endangered language revitalisation
employed in other
contexts to determine whether they could be applicable to Guernsey.
Specifically, in output a,
Sallabank assessed the concept of `polynomic' languages, a pluralistic
language model with no
prescriptive standard and open to functional distinctions, which has been
employed in the teaching
of Corsican. Sallabank's research has shown that many in Guernsey view
regional variation of
Guernesiais as enriching for the language, suggesting therefore that the
polynomic approach could
be an appropriate model. Such an approach, however, is problematised by
the increasing trend
towards linguistic purism. Taking into account such challenges,
Sallabank's article compared the
language planning of Guernsey and Corsica to determine the feasibility of
the polynomic model of
language planning in the former.

Sallabank also investigated how changes in attitudes towards Guernesiais
among Guernsey
residents might result in increased measures to protect it. In output b,
Sallabank traces shifts in
language ideology in Guernsey from a monolingual ideal to the more recent
recognition of a
bi/trilingual linguistic heritage. Sallabank examines to what extent this
shift has led to official
support and concrete language planning measures. Sallabank also compares
Guernesiais with
other Norman languages of the Channel Islands (output c), comparing the
success of their
respective revitalisation measures.

Sallabank's extensive research into the languages of the Channel Islands
has fed into her recently
published monograph, Attitudes to Endangered Languages: Identities and
Policies. Using a
combination of ethnographic research and quantitative surveys, the book
examines language
revitalisation efforts in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, identifying
and confronting issues
frequently faced by practitioners and researchers working in these
communities. The book also
assesses the implications of ideologies, identity and language-related
beliefs and practices for
such revitalisation measures.

July 2008: Nuffield Foundation Social Sciences small grant no. 36136 to
compare language policy
in small island polities around the British Isles (Guernsey, Jersey, Isle
of Man), with specific
reference to the role of a language officer (Sept 2008-Dec 2009).

Details of the impact

Through her research into Guernesiais and wider approaches to endangered
language protection,
Sallabank has for many years been actively involved with officials and
endangered language
community members in Guernsey, providing advice and practical support to
their attempts to
revitalise this almost extinct language.

In 2009 and 2010, she led groups of SOAS MA students to Guernsey, working
with the Language
Officer, Yan Marquis, to `kick-start' documentation and raise awareness of
language shift; both
trips attracted considerable attention from local media. In 2012,
Sallabank was also the recipient of
a small grant from the British Academy for a project on the "Development
of Electronic Language
Corpus and Pedagogical Support Materials: Guernsey, Channel Islands,"
allowing her to continue
documenting Guernesiais, in association with Guernsey Museums Service and
Mr Marquis (now a
freelance researcher and teacher). As part of this research they are
collaborating to investigate the
needs and motivations of learners of Guernesiais; the findings will be
used to develop appropriate
learning materials. Often schools are the focus of revitalisation efforts,
but for many small
languages there are few fluent teachers or materials. Effective adult
language learning is thus a
vital step in re-establishing speaker communities. Research into this area
is of great significance
since standard models/frameworks for teaching major languages are not
applicable.

Her research into language attitudes has both reflected and fostered
greater awareness of
language issues in the Channel Islands and elsewhere. As well as
interviewing government
officials, she has collaborated with NGOs such as Lé Comité d'la Culture
Guernésiaise (an
umbrella body for language support groups) and La Société Guernésiaise, a
scientific/cultural
association (1 and 2, below). Data from her research is used by officials
in language planning and
she was commissioned to write a paper (based on her doctoral research) for
the Guernsey Ministry
of Culture and Leisure in 2007, whose recommendations were implemented in
the appointment of
a Language Officer. From 2007 to 2011 she advised the Language Office and
was a member of
the Language Advisory Panel.

Since early 2013, she has been advising the new Guernsey Language
Commission (GLC) on
language planning (3). In July 2013 Sallabank was invited to attend a
meeting with the GLC's
members; in the invitation email, it was stated that Sallabank's input was
requested based on the
need for `high level advice on strategy.' Sallabank's recommendations and
findings were
distributed to all members following the meeting. These included: a need
for collaboration at
strategic level; the lack of younger speakers is a major concern (she
knows of only 5-6 under 60,
the youngest aged 45), thus a core of proficient younger adult speakers
needs to be developed to
take the language into the future; she recommends a mentor system to go
with adult education;
and the development of integrated, usage-based materials — Sallabank is
currently compiling a
corpus of audio language samples to create a multimedia dictionary of
Guernesiais. Sallabank is
listed as a partner in the GLC's `Business Plan' with particular respect
to plans to research and
record the language, to raise awareness of it, and to develop effective
teaching of Guernesiais.
Sallabank's publications are also listed on the GLC website.

Sallabank is also in frequent contact with the Language Offices in the
Isle of Man and Jersey.
Research conducted on the teaching of Jersey's indigenous language,
Jèrriais, in 2012 was sent to
L'Office du Jèrriais in Jersey's Department for Sport, Language and
Culture (4). In their response,
the Office described her research as excellent and has invited Sallabank
to run a short course on
how Jèrriais lessons can be improved. Her research has been shared with
multiple people involved
in the preservation and promotion of Jèrriais throughout the island.

Sallabank's wider expertise on endangered languages more broadly has also
resulted in demand
for her expertise by organisations unrelated to the Channel Islands. In
June 2011 she was invited
to join a Panel of Experts on language diversity at UNESCO in Paris (5).
Additionally, on 7th Nov
2013, she addressed a ministerial meeting of the British-Irish Council
(intergovernmental agency
set up to further collaboration and best practice in regional affairs) on
legislation in support of small
languages.

Moreover, in March 2013, Sallabank visited New Caledonia to conduct
research into language
attitudes following an invitation to attend a meeting of L'Académie des
Langues Kanak (which
oversees language planning) (6). She is currently planning surveys into
language attitudes and
shift in New Caledonia and the Cook Islands, collaborating with local
researchers.

Finally, in 2010 Sallabank participated in BBC Radio 4's "Word of Mouth"
programme about
endangered languages (7), heard by a 6th-form pupil in the UK
who then researched Sallabank and
came across an interview with a BBC News report from 2010 (8). Her
interest sparked by these
interviews, the pupil invited Sallabank to participate in a language
conference at her school and
has expressed interest in attending SOAS' Endangered Languages Week in
2014 (9).